Spinning

Yeah, it's been a while. I've been quite focused on our first Sunday gathering, which was yesterday. I'm happy to say that everything went as I hoped it would, and then some. Setup went off without a hitch (except for some locked bathroom doors), and the service, even without music, was very meaningful.

I experimented with "dialogical preaching", that is, having the audience respond and answer some questions. It went great, I think that more people were engaged than if I were just up there rambling on and on.

It's been the first time that I've done this sort of thing in almost two years (setup, speak, breakdown, lunch). I got home around 3 pm and just crashed. It felt great.

Thanks to everyone who was praying for us. We're doing this again the first Sunday in June. Already looking forward to it.

Celebrating Kylie's Birthday

Happy Fourth Birthday, Kylie!

Kylie, you are more than any parent could hope for! You are full of life, witty, caring, helpful, beautiful... the list goes on and on. We love you!

Birth

Yes, she weighed 9 lbs., 9 oz.!

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

Tired of It

Lately the interwebs have been going on and on about "Expelled", a new film discrediting the science of evolution. Apparently, they didn't do a good job. I think the video below does, however.

Area Man Makes It Through Day

From here.

SCHAUMBURG, IL—Despite an overwhelming, seemingly endless barrage of frustrations, area systems analyst Adam Blume made it through the entire day Tuesday, overcoming the odds against him in a Herculean display of courage, perseverance, and the indomitable human spirit.

According to witnesses, though it seemed on more than one occasion throughout the day that his life would come to an end, Blume valiantly found the wherewithal to carry on. Not only did the 37-year-old successfully get out of bed and leave his apartment, but he somehow found the strength to navigate through the day's many challenges and, once victorious, made his way back home again. Hit from every side with such formidable opponents as suburban conformity, mind-numbing coworkers, and the celebrity "infotainment" magazine he paged through on his lunch break, Blume nonetheless trudged along—permitting nothing, no matter how soul-deadening, to break his will.

"Man, what a day," Blume said regarding his 16-hour battle with everything from public transportation to profound spiritual alienation.

Experts estimate that, by 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Blume had survived exposure to approximately 1,700 advertising images of epic banality, at least 35 emotionless interactions with complete strangers without making any real human contact, and more than 25,000 moments of soul-crushing inner emptiness throughout the almost day-long struggle. In addition, he also surmounted the onslaught of more than 150 separate anxiety-producing forces, including credit card debt, weight gain, hair loss, sexual inferiority, loneliness, a dead-end job, geographical isolation from extended family, virus-laden spam, the need to keep his cell phone charged, in-store Muzak, mortality, mounting laundry and dishes, his cable bill, indefinable longing, fear of terrorism, online gossip, the unavoidable certainty of his own unimportance, nostalgia for a past that never was, severe lower-back pain, and general ennui.

"I only wish I had gotten a chance to pick up those replacement filters for the vacuum cleaner," Blume said only moments after valiantly suppressing the urge to set fire to his carefully cataloged file cabinet of insurance information and old appliance manuals. "The last ones I got were for the wrong model, but I can't take them back because I didn't save the receipt and now I need new ones.

"And for some reason, I had the song 'Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe' stuck in my head all day," he added.

Blume's epic odyssey of survival reportedly began at 6:15 a.m., the moment he awoke. After enduring the sudden, unrelenting attack of his bedside alarm clock, Blume resisted the near-overpowering compulsion to press the snooze button a second time. Courageously hurling himself from bed and dragging his almost unconscious body the 15 feet to his bathroom, Blume was almost defeated before even making it to work when, as he was putting toothpaste on his toothbrush, it fell on the floor.

"I thought I was going to lose it right there," Blume later told reporters. "It was lying in that space between the sink and the bathtub, covered in dust, so I had to bend over, grab it, rinse it off under some hot water, and put some more toothpaste on it. I hate when that happens."

According to roommate Joe Tesch, with whom Blume shares an apartment despite already having reached middle age, the physically, financially, and spiritually exhausted man then stared at his hollow face in the mirror for approximately three minutes before showering, shaving, and moving his bowels in time to catch the 7:04 bus.

After arriving at work, Blume's trials and tribulations only continued. Over the next 10 hours, Blume weathered an onslaught against his very humanity, from automated menus on telephones and cash machines, to shrill homeless men yelling in the street, to a coffee stain on his workplace-mandated tie.

This was not Blume's first exposure to adversity. When pressed, he was able to recall several such incidents, including the time in May 1993 when he walked on crutches all the way from the bus stop at the bottom of a large hill in Madison, WI to the unemployment office located at the top, the 72 hours he spent stranded in Chicago's O'Hare Airport during the 2004 Christmas season, and the thousands of other battles before, between, and since.

"Another day, another dollar," said Blume, modestly downplaying the impressive scope of his accomplishments. "I suppose I just did what anybody would have done."

Blume's inspiring battle against the dehumanizing forces of modernity continues tomorrow.

The Final Five

So all of you sports fans just finished debating the Final Four, but us geeks have been thinking about the Final Five. Last season on Battlestar Galactica (the best show on TV), we got a glimpse of four of them, and last night was the final season premiere.

I have no clue who the final Cylon is, but I'm loving how they explore the relationship between faith and war, love and fear.

If you've not watched this show, I recommend you add it to your Netflix queue or buy the miniseries and first season. You'll be hooked, and you don't even have to be a geek to enjoy it!

And One of Kat...

Check out this birthday girl!

Kylie will be turning four this month, so our friend Heather over at Vanity Photography took some beautiful pictures of her, as well as her baby sister Kat. Take a look!

By the way, the credit goes to Mom for this awesome birthday outfit, and Dad and Ruth Ann for the lovely Belle dress-up dress!

Holding On to Something

After an incredibly frustrating conversation today, I began to reflect on my experience of planting churches (and ministry in general). It seems like all of the frustration and distraction and disappointment and obstacles came from Christians. Not just Christians, but even pastors and leaders. I thought that, in any other part of the world where Christians face hardship, they get it from those that don't believe, from those that are hostile to Jesus Christ and the gospel. And yet, here in America, it's from those on the inside - and worse yet, from those who should know better.

When we begin to put our own interests above that of the mission of Christ, I think we can become distracted in what we are trying to accomplish. We begin to hedge our bets, holding out just in case something goes wrong unexpectedly. What faith!

I rewatched Lord of the Rings last week, and I would have to say one of my favorite speeches is one Sam makes to Frodo. After fighting off Boromir, who wishes to use the ring of power for his own (albeit good) reasons, Frodo and Sam strike out to destroy the ring. It is far from easy. So why bother?

Why bother trying to start a church, there are plenty out there, right? Why bother trying to make this world a better place, it's just going to burn, right? Why bother investing my life into something beyond me, it costs too much, right?

I feel that my calling is a calling that propels me to do something that matters. That the stories of greatness that have inspired me (both biblical and not), inspire me because I know there is something out there worth fighting for. And even if the fight stings, and there's loss, it's still worth fighting for.

So while this bump in the road isn't really a big deal (for real, it's not, you can stop worrying), it did cause me to reflect on the nature of what is set before me. Not everyone has to believe in the cause to make it worth the fight.